ms. collins: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, we are about to make history in this chamber by passing the employment nondiscrimination act, more commonly known as enda. we will establish the principle that the right to work free from discrimination is the fundamental right of each and every american, regardless of age, race, gender, religion, disability, national origin, and now finally sexual orientation. it has taken a long time to get to this day. more than 10 years ago, i was proud to join a lifelong champion of civil rights, the late senator ted kennedy, as the cosponsor of enda. that was back in 2002. over the years, our country has rightly taken the stand against workplace discrimination in a wide variety of forms. it is past time that we close this gap for our lgbt employees. mr. president, the time to pass this bill has come. i want to thank senators merkley and kirk for taking up the cause and for moving this bill forwa forward. senator kirk, along with senators hatch an